Arts awards night to highlight city's thriving arts scene

Molly Meulenbroek ... honored for work on City Hall Annex restoration (Courtesy photo)

ROCHESTER - The city will celebrate its burgeoning arts scene and welcome a national expert on the impact of arts on communities next month at the Rochester Arts Awards.

The Rochester Arts Awards highlight the outstanding work of Rochester artists and arts groups who have contributed to the city's growing artistic and cultural offerings. It will be held on Aug. 14 in the City Hall Annex Courtyard at 31 Wakefield Street., beginning at 5:30 p.m.

The newly released Arts and Economic Prosperity study showed that spending on the arts in Rochester grew by several million dollars in just a few years. In 2014, arts funding totaled $7.4 million - up significantly from 2010 - and in 2017, that number has jumped to more than $12 million.

Beyond the economic impact, though, lies an even more significant indicator of growth. Attendance at arts-related events rose from 190,000 people in 2010 to 342,000 in 2015.

During that time, the Rochester Museum of Fine Arts was founded in 2011, followed by the launching of the City of Rochester's Arts and Culture Commission in 2012.

"We are enormously proud to shine a spotlight not only on the significant, but often invisible, economic impact the arts contributes to Rochester," City Manager Daniel Fitzpatrick said. "We are also excited to underscore art and culture's tremendous role in adding to the community's vibrant quality of life in the city."

The Arts and Economic Prosperity Study is a nationwide analysis of the critical role that arts and culture play in supporting local economies.

According to the study, the $12.3 million in economic activity in Rochester has a tangible and meaningful impact on its citizens. That spending helps support the equivalent of 405 full-time jobs, generates $8.1 million in household income for residents and delivers $1 million in revenue for local and state governments.

The overseer of the study, Americans for the Arts' Senior Director of State and Local Government Affairs Jay Dick, will be the featured speaker at the Arts Awards on Aug. 14. He will highlight both the thriving arts culture in Rochester and the nationwide impact the arts have on American communities.

Dick has spent the last 12 years at Americans for the Arts, where he's supported and enhanced arts policy on levels ranging from local grassroots campaigns to nationwide efforts. He was also recently appointed by Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe to a five-year term as a commissioner for the Virginia Commission for the Arts.

The honorees include:
Molly Meulenbroek for her work to restore the City Hall Annex
James Chase for best Visual Artist
Joanne Piazzi for Storytelling at Riverstones
Lauren Colanto for Arts Partner
Scott Severance/Rochester Opera House for "12 Angry Jurors"
Farmers Market
Rochester Radar
Home School Theatre Guild for "The Jungle Book"
Rochester Chamber for the Annual Christmas Parade
Frisbie Memorial Hospital for the new Art Gallery
People's Choice nominations can be emailed to the commission via www.rochesternharts.org

"It's a great honor for the City of Rochester's Arts & Culture Commission to recognize the artists and cultural organizations that are bringing spectacular performances, artwork and services to the community. The annual Arts Awards is a great celebration of the wonderful honorees," Arts and Culture Commission Chair Matt Wyatt said.

Wyatt added, "We are also thrilled that Jay Dick, Senior Director of State & Local Government Affairs, from Americans for the Arts will be presenting the results of the cultural survey to the City, along with volunteers, conducted over the course of 2016, gathering over 800 responses from people who came to arts events in the City."